Saturday, August 11, 2012

NATIONAL NEWS

• U.P Minister gives sanction to steal!
  • The Samajwadi Party, which captured power from Mayawati’s BSP just five months ago on the plank of corruption, landed in trouble with a senior Minister reportedly giving PWD officials the “sanction” to steal;
  • Shivpal Singh Yadav, younger brother of SP president Mulayam Singh, who heads the Public Works Department, Cooperative and Irrigation Ministries, is reported to have made the remarks at a meeting of the District Planning Committee at Etah - Maine to usi din PWD walon se keh diya that agar mehnat karoge to thhodi Barhut chori kar skate ho, dacoity nahin daloge (I had told the PWD men that, ‘if you work hard you can steal a little, but stealing should not become loot, you should not commit dacoity’,”) he told the meeting, attended by senior officials and public representatives;
  • The Minister, however, acted swiftly to contain the damage after the news was flashed on Friday. He said his remarks were quoted out of context by the media.
• AERB nod for fuel loading at Kudankulam plant
  • The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) on Friday accorded the much-awaited approval for ‘Initial Fuel Loading’ (IFL) and ‘First Approach to Criticality’ (FAC) of Reactor I at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP), marking the penultimate step in the commissioning of the plant;
  • Now, the loading of enriched uranium fuel assemblies into the first of the 2 X 1,000 MWe Russian-designed Light Water Reactors is expected to begin in a week. This will enable Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) engineers to conduct the FAC, or, in other words, the launch of the controlled nuclear fission process, for the first time in Unit-1;
  • The IFL is a full-core loading of the reactor and the quantity of fuel in the core is 79-80 tonnes of low enriched uranium fuel (LEU) bundles contained in 163 fuel assemblies. In the wake of the Fukushima accident, the AERB carried out safety reassessment to test the KKNPP’s capability to withstand extreme external events and non-availability of power supply for an extended period;
  • The next stage is phase-wise increase of the reactor power level, for which the AERB’s clearance would be granted only after a multitier safety review process involving checking compliance with a range of prerequisites and a review of the various commissioning procedures, results and inspection reports as applicable.
• Wullar Lake encoached upon
  • The Wullar lake, Asia’s largest fresh water lake, has been encroached upon over the past century reducing it from 217 sq km to just 125 sq km. said a three-member committee on environment of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly;
  • There are about 62,000 kanals (3,100 hectares) of Wullar Lake which has been encroached over the years, however, there are good chances of recovery as there is no human habitations inside the lake;
  • The mega Wullar conservation project has been sanctioned by the Union Ministry of Environment as per the project prepared by the Wetland International. An amount of Rs.120 crore stands sanctioned under 13th Finance Commission for the purpose.
• Concern over draft health chapter in Planning Commission document
  • Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA), functioning as the People’s Health Movement has expressed concern at the Planning Commission’s draft recommendations for restructuring of the health care system during the 12th 5-Year Plan which it says are guided by the neoliberal economic policies and are “far removed” from the basic tenets of universal health care;
  • The way the draft health chapter in the 12th Plan document has dealt with the health system, service provision, insurance, public health infrastructure and expenditure on health, it seems the Planning Commission wants to effectively hand over healthcare to the corporate sector, said the JSA in a statement issued here;
  • JSA pointed out that the Plan document’s recommendation to increase public expenditure on health from the present 1% to 1.58% of gross domestic product is in sharp contrast to the High-Level Expert Group’s (HLEG) suggestion for an increase to at least 2.5% of GDP. This is also at variance with the earlier pronouncements of Prime Minister Singh;
  • While the HLEG had recommended enforcement of price controls and price regulation on essential and commonly prescribed drugs, the Plan document does not even mention drug price regulation in spite of a Supreme Court directive that the Government should expeditiously put in place a system to control the prices. It also does not reflect the group’s recommendation for incentives on production of drugs and vaccines in public sector;
  • JSA took a serious note of one of the proposals that stated that the Union Government’s share in the additional health expenditure would be less than half of what States would contribute and that the Centre’s contribution would be conditional on States’ contribution;
  • The new plan envisages a road map where the Government would abandon its central role of providing health care and become primarily just a manager of the new system. By confining itself to providing a small package of services, the Government would strengthen an already resurgent corporate sector.
• Fix rural healthcare course syllabus in next 6 weeks, Delhi High Court tells MCI
  • The Delhi HC has given the Medical Council of India six weeks to finalise the curriculum for the new 3-1/2 year course, ‘Bachelor of Rural Health Care (BRHC). The course was proposed by the Health Ministry to meet the acute shortage of (MBBS) qualified doctors in rural areas due to which rural population was being deprived of basic, primary health care;
  • This move came after a petition was moved in the court against the Govt for not having complied with the court’s November 10, 2010 order, wherein they had been asked to initiate measures to introduce the BRHC course by March 2011;
  • The November 2010 order of the court provided for speedy introduction of the short-term course for rural health care as per the resolution of the 9th Conference of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare in November 2007 and the recommendation of the 2007 Task Force on Medical Education Reforms for National Rural Health Mission. The order had directed the MCI to finalise the syllabus by January 2011 and the Ministry to begin the course by March 2011.
• Electromagnetic radiation interferes with biological systems says MoEF report
  • Pitching in on the current debate on the possible danger of cellphone radiation, the Environment Ministry says a review of available scientific information by its panel of experts shows that “electromagnetic radiations interfere with the biological systems.” Accordingly, it asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) not to allow new mobile towers to be constructed within one kilometre radius of existing towers;
  • The advisory was issued by the Ministry after it received the report of an expert committee set up two years ago to study the possible impacts of the half a million strong network of communication towers on wildlife, including birds and bees;
  • There has been widespread concern that radiation from towers is responsible for the declining population of birds such as sparrows, and bees which are vital to the pollination of many plant species and a key part of the agricultural economy and natural ecosystems;
  • This has been paralleled by unease by some urban residents regarding the effect of mobile tower radiation in their own neighbourhoods, prompting the Prime Minister to set up a panel last month, mandated to work out a new set of guidelines to prevent the adverse impact of such radiation in tune with global norms. The DoT says there is not enough scientific proof that mobile towers are a threat to human health;
  • The MoEF's advisory said “to prevent overlapping of high radiation fields, new towers should not be permitted within a radius of one kilometre of the existing towers. Sharing of passive infrastructure if made mandatory for Telecom Service Providers can minimise need of having additional towers,” it said. Precautions should also be taken to ensure that any new towers do not obstruct the flight path of birds, or increase the combined radiation of all towers in the area;
  • The location and frequency of all towers should be put in the public domain, with GIS mapping to help monitor the population of birds and bees or the welfare of animals in protected wildlife areas. The Forest Department must be consulted before any towers are installed near zoos or any wildlife protected zones. The Indian standard on safe limits of exposure must be urgently refined, added the Ministry.
• The Union Planning Commission’s task force has recommended that the operation and maintenance of Chennai and Kolkata airports, including air side and city side facilities, be awarded to the private sector through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode
• The Prime Minister’s Office has asked the Dept of Revenue to facilitate round-the-clock Customs clearance at 4 air cargo complexes (Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai & New Delhi) and sea ports in the country (Chennai, Kandla, JNPT & Kolkata) from September 1

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Japan, South Korea face off over disputed island
  • South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak paid a surprise visit on Friday to islands at the centre of a decades-long territorial dispute with Japan, a rocky volcanic outcrops in the Sea of Japan (East Sea), roughly midway between South Korea and its former colonial ruler Japan. South Korea has a coastguard detachment since 1954 on the islands known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan;
  • Disregarding Tokyo’s warnings that the visit would strain already prickly relations, Mr. Lee toured the main island and shook hands with coastguards as a South Korean flag fluttered in the breeze. Japan reacted angrily, recalling its envoy indefinitely and calling in Seoul’s ambassador to Tokyo to receive a strong protest.
• A huge cluster of floating volcanic rocks covering almost 26,000 sq km has been found drifting in the Pacific not too far from New Zealand
• A rising tide of civilians fleeing Syria’s violence is hitting four neighbouring countries where almost 150,000 are being helped in camps run by the U.N. refugee agency and its partners. People are mainly moving to Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this editorial on the very recent directive of the Supreme Court on medical treatment of the Bhopal victims
• Read this editorial on the initiative of the Govt to increase road safety in India
• Read this article on the lack of individual privacy with Google products. Recently google has introduced a new feature whereby emails of its users will also be scanned as part of its internet searches

ECONOMY & BUSINESS NEWS

• Railways wants Foreign Direct Investment for Industrial corridors
  • In a move that seeks to overturn the Railways’ policy against foreign direct investment in its core business of laying tracks and running trains, the Railways Ministry has proposed that the Cabinet allow FDI to build dedicated lines for industries;
  • Accepting that its current plans to boost connectivity to sectors such as mining and industry have not succeeded, the ministry has forwarded its proposal for FDI in a cabinet note sent to the committee on infrastructure headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh;
  • Foreign direct investment in its core areas has been an absolute no-no for the fourth largest rail network in the world despite a huge shortage of funds to finance expansion. The Railways allows FDI only in the manufacture of components by private companies that supply to the network. Between 2000 and 2012, the total FDI into the Railways has been Rs 1,354.65 crore according to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion;
  • Acknowledging the shortage of rail connectivity to coal and iron ore mines such as the ones run by Coal India, the ministry has pitched for private and foreign investment to develop committed railway lines. The proposal also adds that such FDI should be through the approval route, although the government allows 100 per cent FDI in manufacturing through the automatic route;
  • The Sam Pitroda Committee on Modernisation of Railways, set up by previous Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi, and subsequently the Planning Commission, have estimated that the railways need to invest Rs 7,35,000 crore in the next five years to match the growth rate of the Indian economy.
• RBI replaced 'no-frills' with basic savings account
  • The Reserve Bank of India, on Friday, asked banks to drop the ‘no-frills’ tag from the basic saving accounts as the nomenclature has become a stigma. It has asked banks to provide the zero balance facility in the basic banking accounts along with ATM-cum-debit cards without any extra charge;
  • The central bank had introduced ‘no-frills’ accounts in 2005 to provide basic banking facilities to poor and promote financial inclusion. The Reserve Bank has asked banks to convert the existing ‘no-frills’ accounts into ‘Basic savings bank deposit accounts’;
  • While there will be no limit on the number of deposits that can be made in a month, basic savings bank deposit account holders will be allowed a maximum of four withdrawals in a month, including through ATMs;
  • “This account shall not have the requirement of any minimum balance... Further, no charge will be levied for non-operation/activation of in-operative ‘Basic savings bank deposit account,’’ the RBI said;
  • As per the modified guidelines, the services available in these accounts will include receipt of money through electronic payment channels or by cheques issued by government agencies. This will be helpful for receipt of payments under schemes such as MGNREGA.